Drag link length on straight axel

Question...

Straight axel ford F3 truck, talking drag link from pitman arm to steering link on kingpin, drag link running parallel to frame. No other suspension mods.

I had to move my steering box aprx 3 1/2" forward in the frame to clear an 12v cummins transplant, effectively making my drag link shortened from 12" center to center to aprx 9" (havent finalized the chop yet).

What will be the negatives?

Angle was not change nor travel limited.

Educate me.

heres a pic of the rough up, Im a little further along now.

It will increase the rod angle at full steer. Be sure the other end isnt in a bind when turned full lock.

If you are doing what I think you're doing, you will turn the wheels more sharply in one direction then in the other. Though the amount of travel has not changed, the center point has. You have reduced the amount of travel in one direction, and increased the amount of travel the other direction.

The truck I did something like this to could turn right into the nearest lane from a side street, but took the whole intersection to turn into the correct lane if you were turning left from the same position on the side street. Gene

Poorboy,

can you correct this, or what is the work around?

The center point should just be at the point of the center of the arc swing of the pitman arm? Find the center of lock to lock and build from there?

Unfortunately, my experience with that truck occurred years ago and I never corrected it. It was probably way beyond my abilities at that time. The truck was junked a short time after the steering ordeal when the trans (or motor?) blew up.

I suspect centering the the Pittman arm at mid stroke and adjusting the steering arm length with the wheels straight would correct the issue, but it may alter the turning radius. Gene

You have to shorten the link the same amount.
R.

I have never did this but I would think adjusting the pitman arm to correct the steering offset would work.

A short drag link will probably result in some pretty severe bump steer.

One way to lengthen the drag link is to have the rod on the pitman arm go to the rear and connect to a frame-mounted idler that the actual drag link hooks to.